Driving in France Information
Things you should know before you drive in France
by Celeste Lipford and Terry Lipford
Driving a vehicle in France is not quite the same as it is in the United States. We have collected some information and details that we found useful to know while driving in France. We will start with road signs and then on to other information you will want to have.
Please note that the following set of signs are not a complete list of French road signs, these are only the signs that we found to be unique to France and that we had to lookup to understand the meaning.
Road Types
Roads are classified into the following categories:
- Axxx: autoroute (Motorway/freeway) Red number sign
- Nxxx: national road Red number sign, sometimes referred to as RNxx
- Dxxx: departmental road Yellow number sign, sometimes referred to as RDxx or CDxx)
- There also are municipal (white number sign) and forestry roads (green number sign)
Road Signs
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Stop before entering or crossing the other road and yield (give way) to vehicle on the other roads
You may also see this sign in French stating "Arret" |
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Blue sign with white lettering and Axx indicates Autoroute. Toll road if the word "péage" appears
Most Autoroutes are toll roads, you should bring coins & bills in case your credit cards do not work at the toll booth |
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Speed checking ahead - either automatic cameras or handheld devices
They may also utilize radar devices, so you should make sure that your speed is appropriate. NOTE: The French government has announced that speed camera warning signs are to be removed from all roads in France, as part of a range of road safety measures. Not only will the warning signs be removed, but information about the location of fixed radars will no longer be made publically available. |
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Red triangle sign: danger Cattle crossing ahead | ||||||||||||
Blue square sign: information, in this case "Parking lot with meters"
Parking lots are almost always identified by one of these signs |
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Red round sign: parking is forbidden | ||||||||||||
Brown sign: Tourist information | ||||||||||||
Green sign with Nx indicates national highway. White sign with Dx or Cx indicates local roads | ||||||||||||
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Toll booth ahead: indicates you should slow down to stop because you’re approaching a toll booth where you’ll need to pay for the
privilege of using the road ahead.
You will need to pay attention to the Toll booth lane signs indicating what types of payments each line will accept, for example, yellow signs mark the leftmost gate as reserved for télépéage only. Télépéage is an RFID based device, similar to systems utilized in the United States, however you will generally not find one on a rental vehicle. |
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French Language Road Signs
The following French phrases are found on various road signs in France, and these phrases also appear on multiple websites. We are unsure of who the author of these phrases may be, we assume that it is the French Government. We are displaying this text in a sincere effort to educate the reader as to phrases that are important for drivers to know of and understand.
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